come over three months after the May 12 election and a manual recount of the vote.

According to NRT the Iraqi delegation is set to meet with the head of Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) Masoud Barzani at 11:00 a.m. to discuss ways towards forming the new Iraqi government.

They are also expected to meet at 3:00 p.m. with KDP and Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) officials at PUK politburo in Erbil.

The creation of a new cabinet has been delayed since May when the results of the parliamentary election were disputed due to electoral fraud.

Despite the presence of 54 seats from Sadr’s Sairoon alliance, which won a plurality in the new parliament, the cross-sectarian alliance currently falls around 30 seats short of having a majority.

On the other side, the Fateh Coalition won second place in the parliamentary election with 48 seats and State of Law won 25. For them to form the government, it would require significant defections from other parties to their bloc.

The incoming parliamentarians will hold an initial parliamentary session to elect a new Speaker, now that the Iraqi federal court has approved the results of the manual recount.

Constitutionally, the Iraqi parliament has until September 3, with a formal announcement expected soon. The eldest member of the parliament will then chair a session to elect a Speaker and two Deputy Speakers.

Reporter’s code: 50101